In poultry processing operations, the conveyer belt transporting the poultry dirties the belt. Skin, flesh and fat fall onto the belt and may adhere thereto. Salmonella, listeria and other harmful agents may be deposited on the belt. For this reason, a conveyer belt utilized to transport poultry must, in accordance with various state and federal regulations, be cleaned and sanitized at regular intervals which may range, for example, from every four hours to one hour or less.
In the poultry processing industry, a conventional approach to sanitizing conveyer belts is to interrupt furnishing of poultry thereto, stop the belts, and manually scrub the conveying surfaces of the belts with a solution of soap or other chemicals that will remove particles (called "debris" in the trade) and kill bacteria. Obviously, such a process is both expensive and time consuming.